EastTexasBassin

I was at a small lake in East Texas, a few miles from I-20 between Canton and Van. I also had to set my brakes high, and I still got a few backlashes. The wind gusts seemed to always happen mid-cast. I was cursing the wind quite a bit yesterday.

If numbers are more important than size, I'd go with the SpaceMonkey. A 4/0 will work fine. You should get both, though, and a pack of RT Shads as well

It was very bright out today and VERY WINDY. There was an occasional small cloud, but it was mostly sunny. The fish were hiding under matted grass, but they couldn't resist the ragetail shad when I buzzed it right over their heads. I put an insertable weight inside the shad, which allowed me to add weight without using a keel weighted hook. This helped me throw it into the wind and keep it on target.

I try to catch fish topwater when it isn't really the best way. I just love to see a topwater strike. I've caught fish on topwater lures in the middle of the day without a cloud in the sky, but there are other things I could be doing that would catch more fish.

Yesterday was my wife's first time to come out in the boat with me and fish for bass. She caught on really quick and caught 6 bass yesterday. I first tried to get her a fish on a small spinnerbait but it didn't work out. Then, I taught her how to fish a senko and she started getting hits. She missed the first few fish, then lost a few fish at the boat, but once she got the hookset down she caught a few more. She was using a t-rigged 4inch watermelon senko. I was so impressed and proud of her Not bad for her first day.

Buzzbaits and ragetail shads are my favorite for a windy day. If you need a bit more weight on the shad, an insertable weight or a keel weighted hook helps.

I repaired a couple dozen ragetail shads and eeliminators the other day. I usually put my torn baits in a big ziplock throughout the day and repair them when I get home, but I hadn't thought to repair them on the water. That would come in handy if I ran out of a color and wasn't getting hits on any other color. I need to get one of those torch lighters.

The Lobster is my favorite jig trailer. Its also great t-rigged with a 3/8 or 1/2 oz flippin weight. I've also caught fish with it weightless and on a keel weighted hook. Its a very versatile bait. <---- This bass in my avatar was caught on a black and blue jig with a junebug Lobster on it.

Its a good c-rig bait. I've also done well with it on a heavy duty drop shot (power shot)

Yesterday was freakin awesome. For months, I've been looking forward to a great topwater day. There's nothing like seeing explosion after explosion on the ragetail shad. I also threw the toad yesterday, but didn't get any takers. The shad and the eeliminator caught most of my fish. All together, I caught 8 on the eeliminator, 7 on the Shad, 2 on a t-rigged RT lizard, one on a buzzbait and one on a pop-R. My buddy Dan caught a bunch of fish on the eeliminator and a few on a senko style bait. The shad strikes made the day for me. They were vicious and violent.

I have a really hard time believing that there is a body of water in the U.S. that doesn't contain any crayfish. It just isn't possible, unless it's covered by a giant glass dome and sealed all the way around. Crayfish are in there. You just haven't seen them.

Always use a trailer hook and make sure its free swinging. The short ones work just fine and don't get hung up as much as the long ones. Usually, I just feel the weight of the fish and start to bring her in. No 'hookset' necessary.

That's a nice looking buzzbait. You should send it to me to see if I can catch some with it.

My favorite is the ragetail Lobster.

My favorite smaller sized drop shot baits are roboworms and ragetail baby craws. Don't limit the drop-shot to small baits though. A 10 inch worm or a large creature bait can do very well on a drop shot.

Yes, they are. When fishing one on a jig, I prefer to cut the bait about where the 'arms' are and just use the back half.

My local walmart had toads and shads for $1.50 a pack. I'm good on shads and toads for this year.

I've seen the biggest explosions on buzzbaits and ragetail shads. Last summer I spent an afternoon long-line trolling buzzbaits back and forth over a shallow flat. That day I saw some of the most vicious strikes I've ever seen. It was a calm day without a cloud in the sky, in the middle of the afternoon.

I just bought and watched one of his spinnerbait videos, and he mentions a few times that MOST anglers fish their spinnerbaits WAY TOO SLOW. He burns the crap of them, and often switches to smaller blades to do this.

I like combinations of white, black, grey, and silver in the skirt. For the blades I usually like to have a silver willow and a gold colorado.

I've done best with the strike king premier pro model plus. I just picked up some war eagles, and I really like the way they look. Haven't tried them yet, but if the fish like them too then I might have a new favorite.

Were they trying to eat that lure or mate with it?? lol, jk cool pics

green pumpkin candy (green pumpkin with green and purple flake)

Wow, that cover in the picture is calling to me. I wanna work that stuff over with a jig so bad. I use a 7ft rod for pitching, but I hardly ever flip. If I flipped more often, I'd probably use a longer rod.

I prefer bigger jigs in the winter. (well, year 'round actually) When fish are less active, it makes sense to me that a fish would want more food for less work. Eating a slow moving, large prey item is more efficient than eating several smaller ones. Even when using big jigs, I still catch some smaller fish. I've caught bass only 10 inches long on a big full-skirted half ounce jig with a lobster trailer.